Wireless Internet a possibility for rural areas

Published 7:00 pm, Thursday, February 16, 2006

By Josh Grosteffon

Thanks to a program through the Michigan Broadband Development Authority, underserved rural areas could see high speed Internet service, including Lee Township.

This could be a boom for residents such as Jim Birch, who lives and runs a business off the beaten path in the township. To bring cable service to his home, it would cost thousands of dollars to run the line.

"If you live off the beaten track, the cable won't come to you," he said. Other options, such as satellite Internet, also proved very expensive.

This is particularly troublesome for Birch's technical communications firm, Editech, that he runs out of his Manitou Trail home.

"We just have dial-up, if we have big uploads or downloads, we go into Internet cafes with our laptops," said Birch, who owns the business with his wife. "It's just getting critical for any business to have (broadband)."

Speednet LLC is one company looking into this initiative, presenting a plan to bring wireless to Lee Township at their February meeting. Speednet currently covers parts of Midland, Saginaw, Bay, Tuscola and Arenac Counties.

"What we plan to do is we have a foothold in these communities and we want to expand and improve our exiting coverage area," said Bruce Moore, general manager of Speednet.

The program would allow companies like Speednet to get loans from the state in order to put up towers for wireless service. This would save townships money by not having to foot the bill for infrastructure.

An engineering study done by Speednet determined Lee township could be mostly covered with two antennas which would have to be installed high on towers.

Possibilities include installing an antenna on a water tower, like in the city of Midland, or using current cellular telephone service towers. Township ordinances encourage sharing of communications towers said supervisor David Yost. Lee has two cell phone towers, one by Castor Road and another near Meridian Road, both near Isabella Road.

The effective range of a single tower and antenna is approximately three miles.

Speednet's wi-max service requires a modem, similar to a cable modem. However, it receives the signals from the antennas and would not require a connection - computers simply plug into the device provided by the company.

Concerns over lack of complete broadband coverage in the township sparked the creation of a wireless Internet committee in January. The committee has been exploring different providers and ways to make this a reality in Lee.

Birch, a committee member who has been exploring providers, said other companies, such as Mercury Networks, expressed interest in covering Lee Township.

The wireless committee is currently trying to determine how many potential wireless customers there are in the township.